Grow My Blog Party and Friday Night Sew-In Results

If you have found my blog via the Grow Your Blog 2014 party, welcome to Sophie Junction.

My name is Sophie and I blog a lot about quilting, fairly often about food–mostly vegan and vegetarian recipes I like, sometimes about knitting–the impulse to knit comes and goes for me, occasionally about my life in Santa Fe, New Mexico and pretty rarely about anything else.

And then there's my two cats: two irresistable creatures that find their way onto these posts from time to time. Here they are helping me finish up a flannel quilt I made at the end of last year.

As a quilter, I have found a wonderful group of quilting friends in the blogiverse and I love participating in those virtual group activities, like the monthly Friday Night Sew-in.  January's FNSI was last night and here's what I made. 

This 30 inch quilt top was made using my directions from another online quilting group activity that is near and dear to me, the Block Lotto.  We made blocks like these–which I called Silly String–in July of 2012.  At the time I had recently moved to Santa Fe and was living in an incredibly small, adobe casita.  I always wanted to play more with the pattern, but it wasn't the time or place.  Yesterday I decided to take a break from the projects on my list and just play.  This is the result.


I have been leading the monthly Block Lotto since January 2002.  Along the way I have created a lot of free Quilt block patterns. The latest can be found on the Free Quilt Block Patterns page on this blog.  Unfortunately, what was once a much longer list was accidentally deleted–maybe by me, probably by Blogger, grumble, grumble.  All the patterns are also linked on the Lotto Block Index pages on the Block Lotto site.

This year, I have also challenged my friends and anyone who would like to play along to make a quilt, beginning with a tea towel. It's not too late to jump in–you can find all the details on this page:

Tea Towel Challenge 2014

Like many, I have started many new projects already in 2014, including a series of art quilts on the somewhat daunting-to-me idea that I will become 60 years old later this year. To end this little post, here's the start of one of them. 

Playing with Paper Dolls

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."  

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

I love this quote and it might explain why, instead of rushing around doing some last minute errands, this morning, I was making this:

A few blog-less quilters had asked about a group blog for the Tea Towel Challenge.  It didn't seem to make sense to me because the challenge is relatively small and short term.

But then I thought about setting up a blog for my blog-less friends that occasionally have a reason to blog and the image of a string of paper dolls is what came to mind.

If the lack of your own blog has been holding you back from joining the Tea Towel Challenge, let me know ... and I'll hook you up.

FYI, Feedly ...

Last night, I happened to update a bunch of apps on my iPad, including Feedly.

This morning, my plan to take my morning coffee out on the deck and catch up with the blogs I follow was foiled when I tried to log into the Feedly app.

If you use Feedly, migrated there from the "retired" Google Reader, and encounter this error, know that trying to refresh will not necessarily help.

Google made a change in their interface and so logging in using your Google account may fail depending on the device you are using.  If it happens to be an iPad or iPhone, although the fix has been made in a new update for the Feedly app, it will take a few days for Apple to test it, bless it, and make it available to those of us that need it.

You can read more about it on the Feedly blog, here:

Update Regarding "Feedly is Over Capacity Message" on iOS

In the meantime, the trick is, if you are connected, DON'T LOG OUT.

This morning,  I enjoyed my coffee, watched the cats surveilling the neighborhood and listened to the birds singing while Johnny cackled at them and got ready to pounce if they came near.

... then I realized I was probably still connected in the Feedly app on my iPhone and could use it for reading blogs when I'm out and about until the update is available.

The photo of Johnny Be Good was taken with my iPhone.  The one below was taken a few days ago with the iPad–it's not good, but I have managed to take so few of the two of them together.  They are not unlike models–it takes a skill I don't have to take a photo in which they both look good :-)

Decisions, Decisions

Since this news, Google Reader users everywhere are looking at the alternatives, including me.  Three popular choices are:

Feedly

The Old Reader  (based on an old version of Google Reader)

Bloglovin’

I’m personally playing with Feedly (on my computer and my iPad/iPhone) but I’m looking at these others, too, since we have a few months to look around before Google Reader goes away.

Here’s the link that Bloglovin’ requires I post in order to “claim your blog.”

Follow Sophie Junction with Bloglovin

Blogger's New Template Designer

Have you discovered the incredible time suck fabulous new tool, the Blogger Template Designer?

Yesterday, my afternoon began innocently enough when I decided to take a look and play around with my Pattern blog.  It has the least content and I knew that would make it easier ... and it was, quick and easy and I liked the result.

It went so well, in fact, that I moved on to the Block Lotto group blog.  That blog already had 2 sidebars and lots of information and links that I wanted to try to keep or bring above the fold. I can't help myself, I want it to be USABLE by the quilters who make lotto blocks and those who just visit.  And it had the photo of the Block Lotto Banner quilt that I made in the header.  Anyone who happened to check that blog more than once yesterday knows that I flipped, I flopped, I just couldn't make up my mind about templates, colors or background images.  I switched to three sidebars (with a really skinny body in the middle) and back again (multiple times). I just couldn't stop trying the many options.  I created three pages (which appear as tabs at the top) for some frequently accessed info: the Block Lotto Guidelines, some FAQs and the links to the block patterns for all the blocks we've made in the eight-plus years the block lotto has been around. At one point, I even blogged about my obsessive redecorating.   Finally, this morning, I settled here.

I still want to re-photograph the banner quilt and create an image that is square enough with the binding included (I cropped it out for the moment).  I also want to add another tab with the gallery of quilts that have been made from or inspired by the Block Lotto.  But, for the moment, I am determined to stop moving things around . . . for a while.

This afternoon, I felt like I had to update this blog, too  ....  I'd really like to use one of my own images as the background, but, unfortunately,  the Template Designer doesn't currently support it.  If you want to use your own image, you'll have to create your own template (and believe me, last night, I started seriously thinking about it ;-)

If you have the TIME and inclination, I encourage you to check it out.  There are many, many options and some interesting functionality.  Some of the background images actually  CHANGE COLORS, when you change the color palette (for titles, links, etc).  

If you do spend some time with this new toy tool and have some suggestions (like being able to use your own images for the background), you can visit the Google Product Ideas area for Template Designer and suggest them . . . and vote on the ideas that others have already suggested (like being able to use your own images for background ;-)

Maybe I Need To Add Blogging To My TO DO List

My list has become driven by my TO DO list. My TO DO list has become so long that it is now divided into sections:

The job hunt;
Things to find or research;
Thing to do (inside the loft);
Things to do (outside);
Things to buy (with subsections for IKEA and Sam's Club); and
Block Lotto things

While I was packing and moving Kate graciously took up the reigns of the monthly Block Lotto for me through the end of last year. Upon my arrival in the Dallas area, I've taken it back. I hand-stitched these four January lotto blocks in the motel room on New Year's eve--a great way to see in the new year.




The Block Lotto continues to be tremendously successful. We made more than 2100 blocks last year and this month we've already made more than 200 of these charming plaid bow ties. (You can see them all here.)

But, among the many tasks on my list and the sections, I haven't nudged myself to blog things and blogging, as you may have noticed as stopped. Maybe I need to add a Things to blog about section to my list? I do think about it (and take photos) . . . I just never get around to it these days.

I have made small progress finding doctors, someone to cut my hair, understanding how my Michigan medical insurance will work, updating my resume, networking, unpacking, rearranging, finally getting functional DSL, and figuring out what else has to be added to the list to research, find, follow-up on, buy, etc. I'm having some fun, too. I've even navigated my way around this place–Baylor Medical Center–a couple times.



I'll try to be better about blogging about all of it.

I did it . . . sort of

I posted more frequently than ever before–40 times during the 30 days of November . . . although I didn't manage to post each day.

Whew.

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month. I joined–the link is in my sidebar, if you're interested–knowing connections and time to post in Houston might be scarce. Although I have already technically failed, I'm hoping to redeem myself with 30 posts in 30 days–a huge task for this occaisional blogger.

Two Years of Occaisional Blogging

Besides being Blog Action Day--more on that later--today is also my 2 year blogiversary.

Reflecting on blogging, blog-rings and other online communities led me to think about real life communities like quilt guilds, then quilting and quilts and finally my quilts. (It was a very tangential bit of reflection.)

It feels like my days of omnivore quilting may be coming to an end. I'm thinking this quilt class junkie may finally be in recovery (curiously, neither of the classes I'm taking at Quilt Festival in Houston are quilting classes).

I'm interesting to see what all this means for my quilts-in-the-making.

As for my blog and blogging, expect more and different ;-)

So Nice

Thank you, Rian, for this sweet award.

Please Turn on your Feeds

I don't think a day passes that I don't discover a new blog and want to subscribe to it. I use a feed reader–its really the only way for me to keep track of all the wonderful, interesting blogs I find and want to follow. Today, it's Les Rèves Chaussures, written by Claire, a woman who dreams of shoes.

It's so disappointing when I find an interesting blog and can't add it because the author hasn't allowed blog feeds. (On blogger, it's under the Settings tab, the link at the top labeled Site Feed.)

So please turn on your feeds . . . and while I'm selfishly begging, would you be sure to allow a FULL feed, so people who use feed readers (like me) can see your whole blog post and not just a tease, a blurb with no pictures. I confess that with me, it's 50-50 whether or not your tease will compell me to click over to your blog to see the rest.

Please Bear With Me ...

Can I blame this on the vertigo? A blonde moment? I updated my template and, of course, lost ALL my ring code (and everything else from my side bar). Ugh ... suddenly this feels too much like work.

Please bear with me ... I will get it sorted out soon.